Fender Releases The First Model in it’s Alternate Reality Line, The Powercaster

Fender has launched the first model in its all-new Alternate Reality series – The Powercaster. This new line follows last year’s Parallel Universe series, a bunch of pretty experimental guitars, but by the looks of Fender’s first offering, this year could get even weirder.

Fender’s Powercaster is the first offering in its new Alternate Reality series, and by the way things are shaping up, it could get a whole lot weirder.

Powercaster. It’s a strong name for a new guitar, so what’s so… powerful about it?

Well, that would probably come down to the thick sounding Atomic humbucker in the bridge, however, this guitar also has a soap-bar single coil in the neck for when you need some added articulation. This potent pickup combination makes a fair bit of sense, maybe more than the body, which is a reimagined offset. Similar to that of a Jazzmaster, but slightly weirder…

The Powercaster’s neck is made from roasted maple and is a modern C shape with a 9.5”-radius fingerboard, 22 medium-jumbo frets and a 24.75″ scale length. It also boasts an Adjusto-matic bridge with stop tailpiece.

So where did this design come from then?

To answer that you have to look to Alex Perez from Fender’s research and development team, who says “We started messing around it back in 2010-11. That was around the same time [Fender designer] Josh Hurst started designing the Meteora. I’ve probably built 10 or 12 versions of the Powercaster, and almost every variation has evolved.”

Perez said that artists would stop by his office and couldn’t keep their hands off it. “It’s a unique sound that really works well. I just wanted it to be something I would play.”

The Powercaster is certainly a unique design, but it leaves one guessing what could possibly be the next axe to step into Fender’s Alternate Reality series.